Top Flagstone blend pretty much only available ex-cellar

THE TASTING ROOM in a corner of the Flagstone winery is located in a tacky semi-industrial precinct between Somerset West and (the) Strand, but the people behind the clunky metal door to the ‘factory’ are nice, knowledgeable about wine and serving some lovely stuff with some of the coolest labels in the Cape. Many Flagstone followers are fans because of a delicious Music Room experience – the Cabernet being one of the most awarded reds in cellarmaster Bruce Jack’s portfolio, along with the Writer’s Block Pinotage and Dark Horse Shiraz. But currently the main reason to take a detour down De Beers Road and across the AECI/Heartland Properties to the warehouse-cellar serving as proof that location isn’t everything, is that Flagstone is the only place in the country that wine lovers can walk in and buy some Treaty Tree!

Apart from Jack’s offerings at the annual Cape Winemakers Guild auction, Treaty Tree is the flagship white in Flagstone livery: a blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon that is layered, complex and, we’re assured, with the potential to age well for up to 10 years. It’s named after a really old Milkwood in the Woodstock suburb of Cape Town: a tree that was around at the time of the massacre by local Khoi San of some 60 battle-hardened Portuguese marines who had attempted to take a Khoi San child to their ships in Table Bay; the tree under which a peace treaty was signed after British forces defeated the Batavian Republic at the Battle of Blaauwberg…

The 2010 was made with food in mind and is recommended as a partner for  fish, and shellfish in particular – e.g. braaied snoek or crayfish with an olive oil and garlic basting. According to the winemakers: aromas of asparagus, fresh thyme, gooseberry and sweet melon, a hint of white pepper and nutmeg; flavours of citrus fruit, a suggestion of toasty vanilla oak.

At R92 a bottle, there’s probably enough not to sell out for a month or three, and unlike other Flagstone wines, the Treaty Tree 2010 isn’t available from any of South Africa’s retail wine shops, only from the Flagstone tasting room and the Wine of the Month Club. And get this:

  • Gold medal at the 2011 Veritas Awards (SA)
  • Gold medal at the 2011 International Wine & Spirit Competition (UK)
  • Silver medal at the 2012 Classic Wine Trophy competition (SA)
  • Silver medal at the 2012 Decanter World Wine Awards (UK)
  • Gold medal at the 2012 Michelangelo International Wine Awards (SA)
  • Trophy at the 2012 International Wine Challenge (UK)


Champion stuff!

Click here to check out other top ratings awarded to Flagstone wines during the past couple of years and the prices ex-cellar.

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